Computer Health: Take A Break, or Else!

The past few days have been a bit rough for me and I’ve hinted at something being wrong health wise too. I’ve been getting more people inquiring as to what happened or happening with me and I thought I would write a nice little blog post about it, even though it’s embarrassing to me.

Last week after my little work out on our Elliptical machine and a 4-5 hour walk around Vancouver I noticed that my backside was experiencing discomfort. The area I am referring to was my tailbone region or the Coccyx [wiki]. As a relatively new snowboarder falling on my ass was something that happened frequently, and I do remember falling on my tailbone quite hard at one point. I thought then I might have fractured it and due to the exercise I was doing must of triggered it or inflamed it at the time. I shrugged it off anyway.

The next few days my tailbone pain increased and I found myself shuffling like an old man. Walking hurt, sitting down hurt.  The only thing I could do was pretty much lie down on my side. I have my nurse (Robyn) take a look and she said it sure didn’t look good and it was inflamed and only getting larger. Well it went from a red mark to a red bump, almost like a welt I guess. Of course I couldn’t see it for myself but I would take her word for it.

It wasn’t until Monday where Robyn (and her mother) insisted we take a visit to our local Care Clinic to check it out. Robyn said she thought it was a Pilonidal Cyst, I didn’t want to believe her and said it would go away. The moment I dropped trou, the doctor confirmed that I did indeed have a Pilonidal Cyst or Abscess. It’s not a fun thing to have either.

What is a Pilonidal Cyst? You can check out Wikipedia’s explanation but I try and give a decent example. Typically males (some woman too) develop a cyst in the cleft of the buttocks area, or the ass crack near the tailbone region. A hair can become ingrown, inflamed and eventually become infected under the skin. This is a bad thing of course. It is more common for people who sit for long periods of time during the day, like myself. Being a computer type person I can sit in front of my computers for hours on end, I guess it doesn’t help my chair is so comfy eh? Back in the war days soldiers often developed them from riding in Jeeps all day. Even horseback riders can develop them, though I would hate to have a horse hair some how wiggle it’s way into my skin!

The doctor put me on an antibiotic (Cloxacillin) in hopes that it would take care of the infection. Did I mention that I was still in pain and could really only lie down? We went in a couple days later and the doctor had to lance (drain) the Cyst. That was definitely not the most pleasant experience of my life, even with a local. I won’t get into the yummy details but I was packed and dressed after the little ordeal. Robyn got to assist the doctor as he couldn’t touch things that were not sterile. The doctor also took a swab so they could grow a culture to find out what sort of bacteria was causing the infection so I could be prescribed the proper antibiotic. Even though the small, quick procedure was painful, it was worth the few moments of pain to relieve the pressure and pain I was having daily.

The past 5 days I have been recovering in bed lying down and today is the first day I can sit properly without discomfort. There is no pain, just discomfort and tenderness from the incision. We change my dressing daily but also get to take sitz baths (Epsom salt baths) which help clean and soothe the area. The pain I was reported yesterday on Twitter was because I had the wick changed, because there is still an infection, the wick is designed to move it (puss/infection) out of my body until I can be put on the proper antibiotics. It also makes sure that the skin doesn’t grow over and leaves a hole inside me either. The wick being removed didn’t hurt, but the wick being packed back into the area was extremely painful. I had a local the first time he put it in so it didn’t hurt as much, but this time it was excruciating!

The next visit (Saturday) I get to have the wick replaced again (oh joy) but I will get to find out what antibiotic will get rid of this infection so I can fully heal. I am looking forward to being better.

So this is what has been happening to me and why someone (men in particular) should not sit for long extended periods times. Don’t forget to stand, walk around a bit, take a break! Don’t let this happen to you, it really isn’t pleasent. There isn’t really anything one can do to totally prevent this happening again, but here’s hoping it will not happen again! Being broken is not fun!